Device for locating the position for mounting a gem box or the like



June 27, 1961 M. GIANOTTA DEVICE FOR LOCATING THE POSITION FOR MOUNTING A GEM BOX OR THE LIKE Filed Sept. 23, 1958 m C) g i INVENTOR.

Z! X 30 BY 46 6 4 roe/wry 2,990,172 DEVICE FQR LOCATING THE POSITION FOR MOUNTING 'A GEM BOX OR THE LIKE Mario Gianotta, 43 Grace 'Church St., Port Chester, N.Y. Filed Sept. 23, 1958, Ser. No. 762,857 7 Claims. (Cl. 269-116) The present invention relates to a device for use by electricians and others for determining the desired location for attaching gem boxes or similar receptacles for electrical connections, in the Walls of buildings, and especially adapted for use in electrical wiring installations in new buildings.

Gem boxes or similar receptacles are generally secured to the wall studs of a building. In new buildings, electrical wiring and all their connections and connection receptacles are generally installed while the building is going up, and the gem boxes or the like are mounted in place on the wall studs before the walls receive their inner finishing covering of plaster or various types of boards. The placing of the gem boxes or like receptacles, which must be accessible from the inside wall surface, therefore requires the determination of two dimensions. Firstly, it is desirable to place all such boxes at a uniform height from the floor and, therefore, the height of installation must be determined. Secondly, such boxes must be so mounted on the wall studs in such position that when the final interior wall finish is applied to the studs, the box openings will be flush with the surface of the wall finish, to provide a smooth and continuous inner wall surface. This requires the determination of the wall depth at which the box is to be aflixed.

Heretofore, electricians, in installing electrical wiring systems in structures, found the proper location for the attachment of gem boxes or the like a relatively clumsy, involved and time-consuming procedure, requiring a great deal of fussing to obtain the accurate measurements for the positioning of the boxes on the studs at the desired height and desired wall depth.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a device for accurately determining the spot for attaching a-gem box or the like on a wall stud by enabling the determining, in one single operatin, with relative ease and dispatch, both, the Vertical and horizontal measurements for fixing the height and depth at which the gem box is to be secured to the stud.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a device of the character described which is simply, easily and readily adjustable for different height as well as for different wall depth measurements, to compensate for differences in the thickness of various interior wall finishes.

It is also an object of the present invention to provide a device of the character described which is relatively simple and easy to use.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a device of the character described which is relatively compact and may be conveniently stored or carried in a tool kit.

It is still further an object of the present invention to provide a device of the character described which is of relatively simple construction and easy to assemble and may be relatively economically produced.

The foregoing and other objects and advantages of the device of the present invention will become more readily apparent to those skilled in the art from the embodiment thereof shown in the accompanying drawing and from the description following. It is to be understood, however, that such embodiment is shown by way of illustration only, to make the principles and practice of the invention more readily comprehensible, and without any intent of 2,990,172 Patented June 27, 1961 limiting the invention to the specific details therein shown.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is an isometric View of one form of a device for positioning a gem box or the like, made according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a similar view of the same; shown in use;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary side elevational and partly sectional view of the upper portion of the device, shown with a gem box in position thereon; and

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary side elevational and partly sectional view of the front portion of the device, shown with a gem box in position thereon.

Referring now, in greater detail, to the accompanying drawing illustrating one embodiment of a device of the present invention and the manner of its use, the same shows a gem box, generally designated as 10, which is of conventional, rectangular shape with one open side, having a back wall, 12, top and bottom walls, 14 and 16, respectively, and side-walls, 18. The gem box 10 is provided with means for securing it to a side of a wall stud in the form of openings for receiving attaching screws. Such openings may be provided in a side wall of the box, or, as illustrated, in a metal strap, 20, which is secured vertically to one of the side walls 20 of thebox, with its end portions extending above and below the box and each provided wth the screw-receiving openings 22.

The device for locating the position for attaching such gem box is shown to consist of an upright support or post consisting of a pair of telescopically related members; namely, a lower or base member, 24, having a foot, 26, by which it may be supported on a surface, and an upper member, 28, telescopically supported on the base member 24. The base member 24 is preferably of channel construction and is formed with a narrowed opening, 30,

through which the upper member 28, which telescopes within it, is partly visible. One or the other of the two post members 24 and 28 may carry means for securing them in fixed adjusted position relative to one another, such as the screw, 32, threaded into the member 24, and movable to impinge against the member 28.

The post member 28 is provided at its upper end, projecting above the base 24, with means for removably engaging a gem box to support it in upright position, as it is intended to be secured in place, with its attaching wall or strap 20 disposed against the side of the stud, 34, on which it is to be mounted. Such means may comprise, as illustrated, an upright wall extension secured to the upper end of the post member 28 and in vertical alinement therewith. Such extension, preferably, consists of a central, fiat, upright strip, 36, and a plurality, preferably three, of horizontally disposed, spaced, fiat strips extending preferably integrally from the center strip 36, to each side thereof, including an upper strip, 38, a lower strip, 40, and a center strip, 42, of greater length than such upper and lower strips.

The upper and lower strips, 38 and 40, each carry a pair of spring clips, 44, at right angles thereto and spaced from one another and adapted to receive and hold between their spring pressed jaws the edge portion of one of the walls of a gem box. The upper and lower pairs of spring clips 42 are vertically spaced so that they may respectively receive and hold the upper and lower walls, 14 and 16, of the gem box 10. The center strip, 42, has both of its end extensions, 46, offset at right angles thereto, in a direction preferably opposite to the direction of clips 44.

Adjustably mounted on each of the strip ends 46, for lateral or horizontal adjustment, is an L-shaped member, generally designated as 50, having the supporting leg, 52, in which is formed a longitudinally extending slot, 54, by which it is slidably mounted on preferably two sions 46, which ,screwsmay be turned to tighten, or

loosen their heads against the edges of theslot 54. The member 50 is mounted on the screws 48 with its other leg, 56, directed toward the clips 44 and extending outwardly, so as to contact an adjacent side of a stud 34 when a gem box mounted on the device is held against one side thereof.

The device of the present invention may be provided with a height gauge which may consist of linear scale, 60, marked on at least one edge portion of the opening 30, of the base 24, whose lowermost marking represents the minimum height of the post, when telescoped, and whose uppermost marking represents its maximum height, when fully extended, and of a single line indicator mark, 62, provided on the lower end of the member 28, opposite the opening 30.

What I claim is:

1. A device of the character described, comprising a stand including a base and an upright post on said base, a wall portion lying in a planesubstantially parallel to the plane of said post and mounted on said post for vertical adjustment thereon, means on said wall portion for removably supporting a gem box with a side thereof against a first side of a wall stud when said post is rested adjacent to said wall stud, means on said wall portion for engaging against an adjacent side of said wall stud for spacing said wall portion relative to said adjacent Wall stud side when said post is rested with said gem box against said first wall stud side, and means supporting said stud-engaging means for transverse adjustment relative to said wall portion.

2. The device of claim 1, wherein said means for removably supporting a gem box comprises spaced clips on one side of said wall portion, each adapted to engage an edge portion of a wall of a gem box.

3. The device of claim 1, wherein said means for removably supporting a gem box comprises vertically spaced clips on one side of said wall portion, each of said clips adapted to engage the edge portion of one of a pair of opposed walls of said gem box.

4. The device of claim 1, wherein said means for spacing said wall portion comprises a bar member having :1

4 flattened end portion set off at substantially right angles thereto, said bar member supported on said wall portion with said ofi'set end alongside said gem box and extending outwardly relative thereto.

5. The device of claim 1, wherein said means for spacing said wall portion comprises a pair of bar members, each having an end portion offset at substantially right angles thereto, each of said bar members mounted on said wall portion along a vertical side thereof with said offset end portion parallel to said wall portion and extending outwardly relative thereto.

6. "The device of claim 1, wherein said means for spacing said wall portion comprises a laterally oifset extension along a side edge of said wall portion, a bar member having end portions offset at substantially right angles to one another, said bar member secured by one of said end portions to said extension with the other end portion thereof extending in the direction of a gem box mounted on said wall portion and outwardly away therefrom.

7. The device of claim 1, wherein said means for spacing said wall portion comprises a laterally offset extension along a side edge of said wall portion, a bar member having end portions offset at substantially right angles to one another, said bar member secured by one of said end portions to said extension with the other end portion thereof extending in the direction of a gem box mounted on said wall portion and outwardly away therefrom, and wherein the means for adjustably supporting said spacing means includes a slot formed longitudinally in said first end portion of said bar member and threaded pins supported on said extension in horizontally spaced relation engaging through said slot.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 584,030 Yocum June 8, 1897 1,612,455 McGeorge Dec. 28, 1926 2,446,255 Vocisano Aug. 3, 1948 2,453,863 Salisbury Nov. 16, 1948 2,524,969 Fairchild Oct. 10, 1950 2,543,716 Carini Feb. 27, 1951 2,919,913 Phair Jan. 5, 1960 FOREIGN PATENTS 803,191 Germany Mar. 1, 1951 

